Yara Family Connections

About us

Our History

Mel and Trevor enjoy living and working in the Northern suburbs. They have four beautiful children together 4yrs, 9yrs, 11yrs and 12yrs.  

 

Trevor is a proud Narrunga/Ngarrindjeri Man with ties to Kaurna, Wirangu and Wangkangurru Mobs. His passion for working with young people spans back to his early years as a young Aboriginal Man trying to make it through school and the ongoing impact of invasion and systemic racism. Trevor found his calling for supporting young people back in 2006 when working at Ocean View College as an ACEO and mentor where he was able to use his life experiences to model resilience, strength and pride to those he worked with.

 

Mel’s Family background is diverse with her mother being born in this collection of countries now called Australia and her father of Bosnian heritage. She has more than 15yrs working in community services, FDV and Children’s Services. Originally completing studies in Psychology Melissa quickly moved into an advocacy space aiming to improve service accessibility for community, to support families to be seen and to honour their existing life experiences. After spending many years in a regional leadership position in a large organisation she has been able to support large teams of staff to operate with more culturally safety, worked to decolonise mainstream programs and increase accessibility to all families of all backgrounds. Some career highlights include managing a multi-contract state and national million dollar portfolio. Design and implementation of a respectful relationship education website and course. Project management of several large scale community events including Stolen Generations Healing Camps and National Sorry Day events. She was the chairperson for the Northern Homelessness & Violence Against Women Collaboration leading dozens of community events, trainings and forums. She was involved in the NOSPI – National Outcome Standards for Perpetrator Interventions, was the South Australian representative for the ANROWS research ‘Control-trial study for National Respectful Relationships Education Programs’ and has served as DV expert for White Ribbon accreditation processes for state government.